Backto95 Line-Up Announced For 51st State

Wednesday, 02 March 2016

Following last year’s sold-out debut, London’s fiercest House festival is returning to Trent Park.

Part of Found’s summer festival series, 51st State explores House music’s roots with six expertly curated stages bringing you the very best in House, Garage, Disco, Soul, DnB and Dancehall from across the world. After well and truly winning over the crowds last year, we are beyond excited to announce that the Backto95 Stage is back, bringing you the best Garage and Oldskool House around.

Headlining the Backto95 stage this year will be American House singer, songwriter and all-out legend, Crystal Waters, who has achieved international success with tracks such as “Gypsy Woman” and “100% Pure Love”. Productions with Alex Gaudino, “Destination Calabria”, The Scumfrog/Dutch, “My Time”, and Chris Cox, “Oh Mama Hey”, are just a few of her much loved anthems that have topped club charts around the world. Let’s take it back for a moment shall we:

Exploding into New York’s house consciousness in the early 90s, Todd Edwards honed a unique, vocal-led style of Garage that hit the UK with an unexpected bang, and soon became known for his hypnotic collage of cut-up samples and intricate basslines. Alongside Daft Punk, he co-produced “Face to Face” and “Fragments of Time”, and has maintained his status as one of the godfathers of UKG.

After cutting his teeth on the club nights of legendary South London venue Sunday Avenue, Matt Jam Lamont hooked up with Karl Tuff Enuff Brown to form Tuff Jam in 1993. The two were soon playing out at venues across the UK and beyond, gaining attention for their popular mash-up of grimey sub-bass and soulful House. Still active behind the decks, Jam maintains a busy DJ schedule while running his own music management agency, Funk-City. A chance to see him should not be missed.

Artful Dodger is undoubtedly one of the most commercially successful UK Garage acts to have emerged from the scene. Originally comprised of producers Mark Hill, Pete Devereux and MC Alistair, Artful Dodger have worked with the likes of Craig David, Robbie Craig and Romina Johnson, among others, and notched up two Number Twos in the UK charts. Now fronted by MC Alistair and David Low, Artful Dodger continue to spread their unique sound, playing out to Garage fans worldwide.

Known largely for their show that ran for an incredible six successful years on Radio 1, Spoony and Mikee B, aka the Dreem Teem, have just shy of twenty years DJing and Broadcasting experience under their belts. As part of the founding fathers of UK Garage, the duo made it their mission to take the sound to all corners of the globe, playing everywhere from New York to Dubai to Ayai Napa while enjoying success with their anthems “Buddy X” and “Dreem Teem Theme”.

Norris ‘Da Boss’ Windross has been part of the UK Dance scene now for over 20 years. His contribution to the music scene has led not only to chart success, but also kept him at the forefront of several pioneering projects such as the creation of the UKG brand, greatly reinforced by events like ‘Yum Yum’ that was hosted by himself, Tony Trax, Frankie Bones, Richie Fingers, Smokin Jo and MC GQ. Aside from producing and DJing across the globe, Norris Da Boss also runs his own successful label, W Records. Check this out.

Jason Kaye first exploded onto the scene with DJ Mikee B and MC Mad P as part of Top Buzz, promoting the DNB sound that was freshly emerging on the UK rave scene. As the Jungle scene started to change, Jason started leaning towards playing House and Garage. He also partnered up with Steve Gurley and Russell Tait to produce a number of records on his own label, Social Circles. Let's see what he has in store for us this time round.

UKG pioneers Ramsey and Fen first joined forces over two decades ago on Freek FM, where the pair fronted prime time Saturday night radio show, ‘Freekzone’. Following their stint on Freek FM, Ramsey and Fen went on to set up their own pirate radio station, London Underground - one of the first to focus on the emerging garage sound. Alongside this, the two have released a number of anthems, such as their rework of Kim Mazelle’s “Big Baby” and “Quality”. They also run BUG (British Underground Grooves) Records and regularly play out at top nights across the country, continuing to shape and promote the scene they helped to build.

Robbie Craig was just sixteen when he signed his first record deal with Street Sound. Following this he went on to collaborate with names like Shola Ama and released his top record “Woman Trouble” with Craig David”. His unique lyrical phrasing and technical perfection is truly mindblowing, so make sure you’re down to check him out.

Rounding up this huge line-up we have sets from the likes of Hermit & Daniel Ward, Listener & Jason H and Maddness. As well as hosts Creed, CKP, DT, PSG, Buzzhard and Blakey. Come get your tickets while they’re hot.